Without this job option, a VM backup is merely crash-consistent. With it, Veeam uses VSS on Windows and handles application logs so that SQL Server, Exchange, Oracle, PostgreSQL, SharePoint or Active Directory data is transactionally consistent in backups and replicas.
Also called AAP.
Read more: Veeam Help Center
In the Ultra Transcenders books
Each book explains application-aware processing in context, with comparison tables and the common traps.
Terms in this definition
- Job
A sequence of steps executed together on one agent or runner, or on the server for agentless work. While running, each occupies one of your parallel jobs.
- vSphere Standard Switch
Configured host by host, this virtual switch keeps both its data and management planes on the ESX host itself, unlike the centrally managed distributed switch.
- Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft's database engine. It can hold Veeam's configuration database in place of PostgreSQL, and is protected with a dedicated plug-in, Veeam Explorer, and application-aware processing plus log backup.
- PostgreSQL
Short for Azure Cosmos DB for PostgreSQL, a Citus-based distributed relational service that scales writes out horizontally. New projects are steered away from it towards Azure Database for PostgreSQL elastic clusters.
- AD
Short for Active Directory, the directory service built into Windows Server (AD DS). Entra Connect synchronises on-premises forests to Microsoft Entra ID.
Related terms
- crash-consistent backup
Captured with no guest processing while the VM keeps running, so it resembles a machine after a sudden reset. Nothing needs to stop, but open application transaction files may be left inconsistent, which is what application-aware processing prevents.
- Red Hat Virtualization
Red Hat's virtualisation platform based on KVM, covered by the same plug-in used for Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager and oVirt KVM. As with all plug-in workloads, application-aware processing is not available.
- Universal Hypervisor API
A Veeam plug-in framework that lets Veeam Backup & Replication protect further hypervisors, Platform9 and VergeOS among them, without a purpose-built integration. Application-aware processing is not available for these plug-in backups.
- Veeam Explorers
Bundled with Veeam Backup & Replication at no extra cost, these tools recover individual application items. They work from plug-in backups and from image-level backups taken with application-aware processing.